Cartier Santos Galbee: Reference Guide, Specs, and Value | Ultimate Watch

The Cartier Santos Galbee is the watch that took the squarest icon in the business and softened it enough to live on a wrist all day. In 1987 Cartier reworked the Santos into a curved, sculpted case (galbe is French for curved or contoured) and gave it an integrated bracelet with exposed screws front and back, the same visual signature that runs back to the 1904 Santos-Dumont aviation watch. We buy and sell these every week on 47th Street, and the Galbee is one of the most requested pre-owned Cartiers that walks through our door: white or silver dial, black Roman numerals, blued steel sword hands, and a case that reads dressy in a boardroom and sporty with a cuff. It came in two-tone steel and 18k yellow gold, full 18k gold, and all steel, in mechanical automatic and quartz. Cartier discontinued the line by 2016 and replaced the whole Santos family with the redesigned Santos de Cartier in 2018, which is exactly why the Galbee has become the value entry point into serious Cartier collecting. If you own one, bring it to the counter at 19 W 47th Street and we will make you a real offer the same day.